style of personal statement

**jess82** · 06-10-2006, 06:56 PM

dear all,

does anyone out there know what style of personal statement is most suitable?? the reason being is that my sister thinks i am missing the point of "personal statement". she thinks mine is just a CV presented in paragraphs instead of bullet points, and that i write too much about achievements, work experience, skills etc. she thinks that if i want to satnd a chance in this tough competition, i need to write another piece and this time make it different, ie. write about what type of person i am without a word on my achievements or experience. she thinks i need to leave this kind of talk to the interview.

honestly, i dont really agree with my sister, but i dont want to ignore her opinion cos she has a point. i do agree with her that my statement does appear to be "another one of those" and far from memorable or outstanding. How do/ did you guys out there make yours exciting/ fun to read whilst keeping all the valid points in?? please help!!!!!!!!

thanks
jess

**anusha21** · 06-10-2006, 07:04 PM

ummmmmmmmmmmmmm 1st thing DONT DO BULLET POINTS!!!
paragraphs with r enough!
u shud talk about ur wrk exp, achievements as how will they about it other wise? i mean theyre not gonna call evry1 to an interview juz 2 kno wot they did r they?? i think my PS is pretty gud (Sent off my ucas) n got quite a few ppl 2 read it (includin sum dental students-applyin 4 den) mine was like dis
1st para 1st interest in dentistry
2nd & 3rd wrk exp
4th 5th n 6th volun wrk
7th school stuff prefect etc
8th hobbies etc
9th final para again y dentistry
u cud include wot type of person u r in the endin para n mayb the begg?
i made sure that there was a link 2 dentistry sumhw or the other in nearly evry line like teamwrk as dentists hav 2 wrk as a team etc so as long as u do dat n hav a gud begg n endin u shud b ok i think!

hope i helped.....

**jess82** · 06-10-2006, 07:22 PM

anusha21,

thanks for your reply. my statemnt is very similar to yours structurally, and every sentence contains a skill or something to ensure i score points as the tutors read along.

thanks for your reassurance, it's nice to know that we dont necessarily need to do wild to stand out from the crowd. at the end of the day, i think point-scoring is the important in this process, isn't it?!?

thanks
jess

**anusha21** · 06-10-2006, 07:34 PM

lol yea i kno wot u mean i wanted mine 2 stand out 2 but it doesnt really hav 2 stand out as long as its gud!
dats wot i was thinkin 2 point scorin i think its important 2 n ive mentioned a LOT about wrk exp but i think dats ok tho. i read a few ppl who r already in uni their PS's wer gud but not wild or nything so obvsly they dont hav 2 stand out as they got places in uni's

**AdamP** · 06-10-2006, 07:53 PM

Thing is, you never know who's reading your personal statement and if you try to make it too "personal" and tell them what kind of person you are you might come across as being pretentious. I think a nice solid personal statement, detailing what you've learned from all your experiences is better (this is just my opinion)

Anyone can write "I am a caring person"

**Ste_Nearly_In_Med_School** · 06-10-2006, 08:16 PM

In my opinion, you need to show what kinda a person you are/have become through achievments, and awards ect. Show what uve done and tell them how that makes you a good candidate for med.

**AdamP** · 06-10-2006, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by Ste_Nearly_In_Med_School

In my opinion, you need to show what kinda a person you are/have become through achievments, and awards ect. Show what uve done and tell them how that makes you a good candidate for med.

That's what I was trying to get at, yeah. What I'm saying is it should be implied, not said.

e.g. "I worked for two weeks in a nursing home and spent time playing board games with residents, which I thoroughly enjoyed."

not

"I worked for two weeks in a nursing home. It helped me to become a more caring person."

If you get what I mean...

(I'm not saying you should write things as simplistically as that though

)

**Ste_Nearly_In_Med_School** · 06-10-2006, 08:43 PM

hmmm i dunno, i like both of those sentances equally. Uve just gotta make sure ur not overdoing it when talking about urself....

**AdamP** · 06-10-2006, 08:48 PM

Well there's the proof that everyone has different ideas! At the end of the day I suppose it is personal and what works for one person won't necessarily for another.

I suppose the moral of this thread might be.. just go with what you think feels right? After all it's your statement...